In Ghana’s agricultural sector, cassava has become the most prioritized staple food. Over 70 percent of smallholder farmers in the country are engaged in cassava cultivation and cassava production accounts for 22 percent of agriculture gross domestic product. In 2018, cassava production totaled 20.8 million metric tons. This reveals that cassava production holds a lot more potential both locally and potentially, therefore there is need for governmental intervention to be directed to its improvement.
Farmers, marketers and processors are the major stakeholders in cassava cultivation. Locally, farmers do the planting and cultivation, marketers either sell the roots fresh to processors or to direct consumers. Processors, at their best produce gari, agbelima and tapioca. These same stakeholders are the major value chain actors who can contribute to making cassava produced in Ghana to meet the industrial standard of the international market.
Instead of growing cassava as a staple food, Ghana can actually contribute greatly to the veracious market cassava is making for itself with products such as flour, starch or ethanol for the food-processing industry, the textiles industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
Governmental policies and regulations must be put in place to standardize cassava processing to meet the requirements of the international market.
For these local farmers and small-scale processors, technical and financial support should be aided them in order to modernize the processing system of cassava in Ghana. The government of Ghana must not gear its attention to the cassava production only, policies and regulations must attend to the quality and sustainability of the market also.
Improvement in the capacity of farmers through strategic policies and other value added activities will increase the income gains of value chain actors and also eradicate poverty by surging the economic earnings of the country.
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